Texts
Frithfolaid ríg Caisil fri túatha Muman
Incoming data
Manuscript witnesses
MS
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 2
incipit: Rig Caisil conrad fond ⁊ grian i taeb no airchind fri mbraithrib ⁊ fria Ciarraidi, Luachra la Corc mac Luigdeach Breaks off imperfect. This is the first recension of the text. See f. 192rb in this manuscript for a second recension.
f. 52vb26–
MS
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1298/1-238
incipit: Ri Caisil tra dorat fond...
p. 187a.27–
MS
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318/6 (cols 281-344)
"The counter-obligations of the king of Cashel towards the peoples of Munster", first recension.
p. 328 = col. 339
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] OʼKeeffe, J. G. [ed.], “Dál Caladbuig and reciprocal services between the kings of Cashel and various Munster states”, in: J. Fraser, Paul Grosjean, and J. G. OʼKeeffe (eds), Irish texts, fasciculus I, London, 1931. 19–21, i (corrigenda) + fasc. V: 100 (corrigenda).
Celtic Digital Initiative: <link>
20–21 (§§ 8–18) Recension I
[ed.] Hull, Vernam, “A passage in Dál Caladbuig”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 30 (1967): 12–13.
Recension I: offers a reading for part of § 9 in O’Keeffe’s edition.
Secondary sources (select)
Charles-Edwards, T. M., Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
534–548
Jaski, Bart, Early Irish kingship and succession, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
Early medieval Ireland was politically fragmented, with a multitude of lordships and kingships ruled by dynasties of which many were genealogically inter-related. This book begins by discussing the political power of the Irish lords and kings over their subjects, their roles as mediators between natural and divine forces and their position as rulers over their subjects. It then moves on to a detailed analysis of the rule of succession in early Ireland. A lord or king had to be qualified for his office, and for this many considerations were taken into account, such as his pedigree, the status of his mother, his behaviour and his physical appearance. This is widely evidenced in legal material, saga literature, annals and other sources, and the author sets these notions in a wider context of various aspects of Irish political and social life, such as the division of the inheritance, loss of noble and royal status, clientship and suretyship. The meaning of the titles rígdamna and the office of tánaise ríg are also examined.
The Irish custom of succession forms the background to the tendency of close and distant relatives to compete for power and of the ruling dynasties to expand and fragment. It also explains why it was so difficult for one dynasty to become permanently paramount in Ireland. The book concludes with a discussion of the nature of the kingship of Tara.
205–207
Jaski, Bart, “King and household in early medieval Ireland”, in: Benjamin T. Hudson [ed.], Familia and household in the medieval Atlantic province, 3, Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Publications, 2011. 89–122.
